Rich lifestyles cannot go on, says EPA

The affluent lifestyles of NSW residents are unsustainable as people use more electricity, travel further by car and guzzle too much water, according to a review of the state's environment.

The three-yearly State of the Environment report, released yesterday by the Environment Protection Authority, measured 72 environmental indicators but gave only 11 a tick of approval.

The Environment Minister, Bob Debus, said people were addicted to such lifestyles regardless of long-term cost.

"If we want to keep our quality of life and leave the environment in a better, or even the same, state than it is in now, we need to heed the wake-up call," Mr Debus said.

The amount of land needed to produce the goods and services we consume, known as an ecological footprint, has increased by 23 per cent in five years. In that period the population grew by only 7 per cent. It now takes 7.4 hectares of land to maintain each Sydneysider's lifestyle, an increase of 16 per cent on five years ago. Regional residents saw their footprint grow by 15 per cent to 7 hectares.

The deputy director general of the Department of Environment and Conservation, Simon Smith, said: "We take out too much of the good stuff and put back too much of the bad stuff."

While per capita consumption of water has dropped, total consumption is increasing due to the growth in population. The current per capita use of 412 litres a day in Sydney is far above the target for 2005 of 364 litres.

The report notes that while it is possible to maintain existing levels of consumption in the short term, "it means that water restrictions will occur more frequently in the future".

"This, together with the need to increase the amount of water left in rivers for environmental flow, climate change and natural variability means that there is an urgent need to reduce consumption through such measures as water conservation and recycling."

More energy is also being used, with electricity sales up by 4.5 per cent in the past two years, driving up greenhouse gas emissions produced by coal-fired power stations.

Energy efficiency education programs were needed, the report said, as well as more investment in alternative sources of power.

People are also using cars more. Over the past 10 years the number and length of trips taken in cars has increased by more than 25 per cent, more than twice as fast as the growth in population.

Brooke Flanagan, executive director of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, said the State Government needed to do more to help people live sustainably.

"Clearly, the Government needs to be increasing its efforts to improve, enhance and expand Sydney's public transport network to provide a viable transport alternative to the car," Ms Flanagan said.

The report also noted: The amount of land, mostly agricultural, affected by salinity will increase tenfold by 2050; Several of the state's catchments are over-extracted, or in danger of becoming so; Although there has been a reduction in land clearing it is still continuing at high levels; Most of the state's rivers are under stress; An increasing number of species are being listed as endangered or vulnerable.